Carrefour Mondial de L'Accordeon Festival, Montmagny - Canada

The Carrefour Mondial de l’Accordeon Festival takes place from August 31 to September 4, 2017 in Montmagny, Quebec. About 34 miles east-northeast of Quebec City, Montmagny is a proudly French-speaking town that is over 300 years old and has 11,885 residents.

From August 30 through September 3, the population swells to more than 50,000, most of them intent on hearing some of the finest accordionists in the world.

Quote from a TripAdvisor contributor, "If you love accordion music (or even if you hate it), this place is an adventure. The Carrefour Mondial brings accordionists from all over the globe, and it seems as if every man, woman, and child in Montmagny plays some version of a squeezebox. We camped out, dined where we could (the locals provide their hearty version of baked beans), line danced, and heard the accordion stretched to its ultimate performance abilities. It was so much fun. Highly recommended.”

Akkordeon-Akut Festival - Deutschland

50th Bromyard Folk Festival - UK

by Diatonic News

https://www.bromyardfolkfestival.co.uk/

PIF-Castelfidardo/Worldmusic Category - Italy

by Diatonic News

Competitors must perform a programme of their choice of maximum duration of 20 minutes, including arrangements and creative elaborations of pieces from the world music, ethno jazz, ethnic, folk and traditional repertoires.

Original compositions generically inspired by ethnic music are also accepted.Ensemble music no age limit. Orchestras and groups comprised of at least one accordion or diatonic accordion (of any model) or a bandoneon or a digital accordion, that should have the main role in the ensemble. Groups may contain more than one free reed instrument or with only free reed instruments (like the ones mentioned above).

The 42nd “Citta di Castelfidardo” International Accordion Competitions and Festival from 10th to 17th September has released its updated competitions and concert schedule. 2017Concorso

Daily Reports of pictures, video and competition results will be on accordions.com at: 2017Concorso

Fergie MacDonald’s 80th Birthday Gig, Scotland – UK

Fergie MacDonaldOn Friday September 1st, 7.30pm, diatonic accordionist Fergie MacDonald’s celebrates his 80th birthday with a grand ceilidh at the Nevis Centre, Fort William, Scotland. There will be many guests performing, including accordionist Gary Innes, the new presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Take the Floor’.

Fergie MacDonald, also a physiotherapist and an international clay pigeon shooter, is considered by many to be the man who popularised the West Highland style of traditional Scottish ceilidh dance music. MacDonald topped the Scottish pop charts in 1966 with his tune ‘Loch Maree’.

He was initially banned from appearing on the BBC due to the traditional audition process but is now regularly featured on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. He still tours today throughout the world and has released 23 albums to date.

He released his autobiography in 2003, ‘Fergie: Memories of a Musical Legend’.

The orchestra site says: Tango is more than a dance, it is a feeling of life. The fact that Piazzolla is now recognized as concert music is to the great merit of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. For his compositions, the idiom of the tango was almost stylistic. It was no wonder, then, that he dedicated a concerto to the tango's own instrument, the Bandoneon.

The orchestra will probably perform one Nikolic composition as well from his Balkango opus. Tickets available from the Symphony Orchestra Wuppertal.

Dingle Tradfest - Ireland

by Diatonic News

The Dingle Tradfest will run this year from September 8th – 10th. Now, well established in its 7th year, the festival will host a series of concerts, an extensive session trail and dance workshops. We are delighted to again host some of the country’s finest traditional musicians, singers and dancers and these performers will play in venues throughout the town as part of Dingle Tradfest’s Session Trail.

Dingle Tradfest promotes Irish traditional music in an innovative way, emphasising especially the creativity of young traditional musicians and new bands – this year this will be highlighted even more with the addition of a Battle of the Trad bands competition. The awe-inspiring duo Maeve Gilchrist & Nic Gareiss travel from the U.S to be at the festival and as well as performing will undertake some workshops. Velocity (David Geaney, James Devine) will also feature in the 2017 programme and returning to the festival this year are Orlaith & Brogan McAuliffe from London as well as over one hundred session trail regulars. The festival will celebrate National Asturian Culture Day in style with The Ruben Bada Trio and Irish music stalwarts Máirín Fahy (Riverdance) and Chris Kelly will also perform on the Friday of the programme. Dingle will certainly be the place to be in September with a host of concerts, free session trail and lots more.

Trifilio Tango TrioThe Trifilio Tango Trio dazzled an audience of 120 at the July meeting of the Washington Metropolitan Accordion Society (WMAS).

The Trio, consisting of Devree Lewis (cello), Argentinian Emmanuel Trifilio (bandoneon), and Cristian Perez (Guitar) performed some of Emmanuel Trifilio’s original compositions, such as Milongacha, Una Noche el la Habana and La Holy Milonga, as well as “old standards”, such as Libertango.

The Washington based Trifilio Tango Trio got several standing ovations and sold out of the CDs that they brought with them, something that rarely happens.

The size of the audience was a pleasant surprise, especially for a beautiful summer afternoon.

For further information or to make a booking Phone: 424-235-5673 or email: trifiliotango@gmail.com

The Northeast Squeeze-In / USA

by Diatonic News

The Squeeze-In is a non-profit laid-back weekend gathering of players and their partners. in NESI-2017 from 9/22-24/2017.

The goal is to keep the event large enough to be financially viable but small enough to sustain a sense of communit and make it possible even for first-timers to feel known and included by the end of the weekend.

All Informaiton on: http://squeeze-in.org/

10th Annual Accordion Noir Festival - Canada

by Diatonic News

Breaking all rules of what is normal or possible, the Accordion Noir Festival returns to celebrate its 10th annual festival with a lineup of artists and events that threatens to tear the fabric of reality in Vancouver.

The National Folk Festival | Greensboro, N.C. - USA

by Diatonic News

A Great American Festival Comes to North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad

The 77th National Folk Festival will take place September 8-10, 2017

The National Folk Festival—one of America’s largest, most prestigious, and longest-running celebrations of arts, culture, and heritage. Best of all, this three-day celebration is FREE! No tickets needed!

https://nationalfolkfestival.com/

Otley Folk Festival - UK

by Diatonic News

CELEBRATING 26 YEARS: 1991 - 2017

The 26th Otley Black Sheep Folk Festival is on track to deliver another great weekend on 15-17 September with concerts, dances, workshops, sessions and street entertainment on offer, there should be something for everybody.

The campsite will remain at the field opposite Stephen Smiths Garden Centre, a short stroll into town and will be open from Friday afternoon until Monday morning.

Tangofstival TRIESTE - Italy

by Diatonic News

the fifth edition of the International Trieste Tango Festival. This Festival combines the magic of tango with the distinctive cosmopolitan atmosphere of Trieste, where Italy and the rest of Europe have been meeting for a long time.

Guillermo Berzins, a professional Argentinian tango dancer and teacher from Buenos Aires and artistic director of GB Tango Academy who relocated to Italy in 2010, came up with this idea in 2013. As always, both the artists and the location have been carefully hand-picked to provide you with an unforgettable experience.

Trieste is a town in the heart of Europe, where three territories that were part of the Hapsburg Empire meet: Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Its being situated by the sea has been the origin both of its trade fortune and the fascination it has exerted in the past and still holds for its residents and visitors alike. Precisely so that you can fully enjoy this side of its charm, the Trieste Tango Festival (TriesTango) is going to be located on Molo IV, a venue highly praised in previous years. The hall where the festival is traditionally held rests on a small pier surrounded by the sea. From it you can admire a town with an enduring Austro-Hungarian legacy, and notably Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia, enclosed on three sides by magnificent historical buildings and looking out onto the sea on the fourth side.

Once again this year, TriesTango takes place over four tanguero days, from August, 31st to September, 3rd. World-famous artists will be gracing this year’s edition.

Future events / Concerts

Accordion Dance Party Shaman Paalanen has become one of Europe’s most sought after accordion performers, transporting audiences to primal Finnish landscapes through his signature combination of virtuosic technique and inspired electronics. He makes his North American debut at the Accordion Noir Festival at St. James Anglican Church.

"In the hands of the man from South Ostrobothnia the accordion is manhandled in a manner that hammers intensive shamanism into wolfram carbide, in a furnace of growling, throat-bellowing and progressive surrealism. The man and his accordion dove hand in hand into waters so deep that upon surfacing, having spent his last lungful of oxygen, the listener has the sense of having visited the furthermost frontiers of unexplainability." (Waldemar Wallenius, www.rootsworld.com).

http://accordionnoirfest.com/en/2017-artists/

Peter and Barbara Snape @ Bromyard Festival - USA

by Diatonic News

Peter and Barbara have the knack of seamlessly mixing well-crafted arrangements of traditional songs with an eclectic collection of more light hearted/humorous songs, moving with ease from emotional depth to roller coaster highs. Not surprisingly, as someone put it… From traditional ballads through to the quirky comical Peter and Barbara have it all!

Some of their traditional songs have been carefully researched from their native north (Lancashire) and likewise with the ‘quirky’ stuff, a northern resonance prevails as they bring back to life songs from late music hall/early variety hall 78rpms.

Harmonica Quartet Austria - DE/Klingenthal

The four members of the Harmonika Quartett Austria have travelled around the world, performing with great success on harmonica instruments of all shapes and sizes.

Their program “From Pop to Polka“ includes amusing interpretations of pop hits and evergreens, peppy versions of well known classical pieces, Alpine folk music and of course tunes from the great Western film soundtracks.

Dragonhead perorming 8/9th Sept. - Suckley/Worcester/USA

Dragonhead are a talented duo offering an eclectic mix of traditional & modern folk with a big slice of Cajun. We use the word ‘eclectic’ without shame as our first recorded tracks were on a promotional compilation in association with other local artists and was indeed an eclectic mix of traditional, modern, unusual & new material. Our aim was to promote a small group of artists ranging from old hands to new performers, from solo artists to groups which might be seen as if we are trying to be ‘all things to all men’ (& women) – this did however prove popular with a few local radio stations.

Bruce Daigrepont @ National Folk Festival - USA

by Diatonic News

September 8/9th 2017Daigrepont was born in New Orleans to a Cajun family with deep roots in rural Avoyelles Parish. By age five Bruce was learning guitar from his father, and at 20 he was inspired to pick up the accordion after attending the 1978 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles. In the early 1980s, his Bouree Cajun Band almost singlehandedly popularized Cajun music and dance in New Orleans. Decades later he’s still going strong. Backed by his longtime bandmates, fiddler Gina Forsyth and the razor-sharp rhythm section of Jim Markway and Mike Barras, Bruce Daigrepont is a global ambassador for Cajun music.

Iva Nova "Ethno Extreme!" - CA/Russia

Iva Nova is a multilingual band who describes their mixture of Slavic, electronic and rock influences as ‘ethno-extreme’. Hailing from St. Petersburg, this all female group of consummate musicians has honed their unusual sound through fourteen years of European touring, building a loyal following with their politically relevant yet mischievous songs. Caught between rural restlessness and urban insanity, Iva Nova’s music offers Canadian audiences a taste of Russia’s bubbling alternative scene.

http://accordionnoirfest.com/en/sept-8-accordion-alchemy-2/

Bandoneon and Electronics, "Raw Meat and Butterflies" - IT/CN/Vietnam

Douglas Schmidt and Giorgio Magnanensi team up to create a new work for electronics and bandoneon. Douglas Schmidt (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam), is a standout performer/composer who appears with symphony orchestras across the world and Giorgio Magananensi (Italy) is “...an increasingly influential figure in Vancouver’s developing classical/jazz crossover culture [...] one of the most outgoing, provocative, and multifaceted musicians on the local scene.” (Alex Varty).

Los Texmaniacs performin in Greenboro - NC/USA

by Diatonic News

Los Texmaniacs founder Max Baca is one of the most dynamic bajo sexto players in the world. He started playing music at age five, and was performing with his father’s band at seven. He remains the longtime right-hand man of legendary accordionist Flaco Jimenez, with whom he played in the genre-bending Texas Tornados, before founding Los Texmaniacs in 1997. Today the Grammy-winning band is celebrated globally as ambassadors of Tex-Mex conjunto music and culture.